You may have noticed I took a week off of blogging. After the go-go-go of September (The release of my cookbook, VeganMoFo, and announcing my Autumn Time Restoration) I was FRIED, and so ready to have some time away from the computer. I am returning to you today almost-completely-refreshed (maybe not 100%, but I’m gettin’ there) and I can’t wait to share with you some pictures from the cookbook’s release party. It was a totally wonderful time, and I am so grateful to the lovely people who supported me and Melissa in our fairly hair-brained scheme to put a cookbook together in a month and celebrate with a five-course backyard bash. Without the guests, the show wouldn’t have happened, so holy hell. This one goes out to the 20 folks who dined in my backyard last night.

I woke up Sunday and the first thing I did was start harvesting from my garden. These heirloom tomatoes went straight into the coconutty masala-style chickpeas, and lemons, apples, and pears were used as table garnish. This is the first year I have really grown some of my own food (with more help from my super-gardener roommate than I would like to admit, but hey! It is a start, right?) and I am SO excited about it. Getting tomatoes from the yard as opposed to the grocery store? Hell yeah. I’m all about that.

Those chickpeas contained more onions, garlic, and fresh spices than I have used all month. I have been so busy that my meals have become decidedly a bit lazy, and as I chopped and sauteed I made note of the fact that I could easily put a little more effort into my own day-to-day meal prep. If all it takes is a 40 second dry-sautee to make my food smell mouth-wateringly awesome, well then shit. I should probably do that.

Kale salad mayhem.

At some point Melissa and I both realized we had hardly eaten anything green. Between prepping carrots and mango we blended up fresh dinosaur kale, a local and organic grapefruit , and some crushed ice. I had doubts about this smoothie, but Melissa was confident, and she was super right. Did you know that when you blend a grapefruit it gets creamy? No? Well, now you do. You’re welcome.

One of the most challenging aspects of the meal was having appropriate vessels to serve our food in, without going out and buying a whole bunch of dishes that my house doesn’t want or need. We ended up serving our mocktails (Sponsored by the ever-awesome KeVita) in mason jars, and our spicy garlic-infused popcorn in thrift store mugs that my house already owned. It worked beautifully.

Raw gingersnaps.

KeVita love. (Stay tuned for TWO recipes for KeVita mocktails. This probiotic beverage has straight up changed the way I digest, and tastes awesome as hell. Drink it daily, for reals! Your guts will thank you)

Biggest shout out ever to this beautiful woman. Melissa has TIRELESSLY worked with me on this cookbook and party combo and has been patient, loving, and hilarious. She busts her ass more than anyone I know and the result is delicious, delicious granola, bar bites, and crackers. Support her, for goodness sakes!

An hour before go-time, trying to breathe all the goodness in. These flowers were the first I’ve ever bought, and they tied the whole table together. I’m making a note of this for the future.

Thanks so much for bearing with me while I announce thing-after-thing-after-thing lately. Between my Reset and Restore program(an awesome program designed to lead you into the holiday season. Why not start with a good backbone of 2 weeks of supported healthy, unprocessed, vegan, gluten, and refined sugar free eating?!), leading the new Oakland No Meat Athlete Run Club, and the five course dinner I am co-hosting, I find that even *I* am confused about all the things I say I’ve got going on.

I’ve got a lot of ideas, what can I say?!

Here’s the most important announcement of all, though:

THE SUPERTASTY ANTI-INFLAMMATORY E-BOOK IS HERE!

here’s a sneak peak:

Zucchini Noodles with Coconut Ginger Sauce

Banana Jalapeno Smoothie

Grilled blueberry bok choy salad

Cherry Cobbler

After many weeks of working on this book, it is finally an actual thing you can buy in the world!

As you may have guessed, this book is focused on anti-inflammatory foods. It has six chapters: ginger, turmeric, chillies, berries, walnuts/almonds and greens. Each chapter includes a breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, and dessert recipe featuring the section’s ingredient. All recipes are totally unpublished, and created by me and Melissaof TastyMakes.

There’s a lot of love in this little dude, and I totally hope you buy it so you can make our recipes and tell me what you think.

You can do so here:

In the mean time: What’s your favorite way to get in anti-inflammatory foods?